HomePC Online Sees 66 Percent Increase in Traffic, is Named an America Online Member's Choice Site

HomePC Online, which can now be reached at its new URL, http://www.homepc.com/ (and on America Online at Keyword: HomePC), has reported a 66 percent increase in traffic during the past three months. In addition, the site was recently listed as an America Online Member's Choice site.

Compelling editorial content taken from each month's issue of Home PC magazine is just one part of the site's formula for success. According to HomePC Publishing Director Dan Schwartz, new features such as 3-D chat, and a monthly poll covering topical issues have also helped boost HomePC Online's popularity. Lance Ulanoff, HomePC's new Online Projects Editor, is leading the charge to make HomePC Online one of the Web's top spots.

"While Web sites struggle for visitors and clamor for awareness on the Web, behind-the-scenes there is a Webmaster or Online Projects Editor working to develop online activities, events and interactive features that will draw users to their site," Schwartz said. "In the three months he has spent working on HomePC Online, Lance has implemented such properties and the result has been that approximately 100,000 more visitors are logging on to the site each month."

The most prominent change for HomePC Online is the site's new URL, which mirrors the publication's title. Probably the most exciting new feature, however, is the site's 3-D chat capability. Capitalizing on the latest technology and one of the hottest trends in online interactivity, HomePC Online has collaborated with The Palace -- one of the most popular 3-D chat environments on the Web -- to host a HomePC/Palace Chat Web site. Visitors to HomePC Online who have The Palace software can now participate in animated 3-D chats. Participants appear as avatars -- images of a person, an animal, a monster or whatever they select -- and text comes alive in comic-style balloons.

"Once you've participated, it's easy to see why 3-D chat is so much more entertaining than the traditional, text-only style of chat to which users are accustomed," Schwartz said.

Also new, each month, HomePC Online posts a poll covering topical news and issues, which encourages visitor interactivity and return visits. This month's poll, for example, asks visitors if and when they plan to purchase an MMX system. The HomePC Online message board is also undergoing a makeover, and in the coming months, visitors will find conversations within individual folders, making threaded discussions easier to follow and new discussions easier to launch.

HomePC Online still houses the features that faithful visitors have come to know and rely on. These include a search engine that scours the editorial archives of HomePC for topics of interest; the Children's Software Review, a database of more than 1,500 reviews of children's software; and HomePC Software Libraries, which contain hundreds of demo, free-ware and shareware versions of games, utilities, productivity programs, educational software, screen savers and more, for Windows, DOS or Macintosh.

"Overall, the revitalized HomePC Online is a hybrid creation that marries an interactive playground with informational services," Schwartz said. "As time goes on, we will continue developing content and features that encourage visitors to return."

Published monthly by CMP Media Inc., HomePC provides easy-to-understand information about home computers, and each issue is packed with engaging features, trouble-shooting tips and first-hand product reviews. The magazine's editors and columnists are the foremost experts in education, entertainment, and productivity products for home computer users.

CMP Media Inc. provides publishing, marketing and information services to the entire high-technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology -- through print and electronic media. All of CMP's publications and online products can be accessed through the company's TechWeb® site on the World Wide Web (http://www.techweb.com/). Print titles include NetGuide Magazine and Windows Magazine.

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SOURCE: CMP Media Inc.

CONTACT: Leslie Dunbar of CMP Media, 516-562-7040 or ldunbar@cmp.com